When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom, we headed over to Tomorrowlad where we rode Buzz Lightyear (we were getting pretty good at finding high-scoring targets on this game!). Next, we rode a nice relaxing favorite: the Peoplemover.
After a cool slow-paced tour of Tomorrowland, we wandered back to the central plaza to look at the castle. Usually the walkway underneath the castle is closed, but this morning it was open so we passed through to admire the pretty Cinderella murals.
Next, we visited the Haunted Mansion (I love this ride!) then stopped for a Dole Whip to refuel. We visited the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean (classics) before catching a quick little lunch at Pecos Bill’s Café.
After lunch, we rode Big Thunder Mountain then hopped on the Disney Railroad at the Frontierland station. We relaxed and rode the train around the park once before wandering back to Tomorrowland for another spin on the Buzz Lightyear ride (our scores were great!). By this time it was about 1 pm and we took a bus back to the hotel for our regular mid-afternoon break (these breaks were a good idea).
Around 1:30 pm, we set back out to our final park visit of the trip: EPCOT of course! We rode Spaceship Earth again (such a relaxing and interesting ride). Next, we checked out Innoventions and rode the Sum of All Thrills -- a ride that uses a Kuka robot to create a virtual roller coaster than you design. Our roller coaster (known as the “Slippery Phantom”) was a little lame because I didn’t want to go upside down, but the ride itself was pretty cool!
Shannon and I ventured out to the World Showcase and visited Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta boat tour (MEXICO!). We wandered around all of the countries and stopped for a Kaki Gori (shave ice) snack in Japan. This is another of my favorite Disney snacks! I love the bright green melon-flavored ice. It looks absurdly sweet, but it is just right -- and it doesn’t even make your mouth bright green!
We looked around Japan before our dinner reservation at Teppan Edo (a teppan yaki restaurant). This was one of my favorite meals of the trip! I had shrimp, rice, and noodles (Shannon had the same but with filet mignon instead of shrimp). We also had green tea pudding and ginger chocolate cake for dessert. Such a fun and delicious dinner! We wandered the Mitsukoshi shop to pick up some last-minute souvenirs before heading to Canada where we watched Illuminations.
EPCOT was open until midnight tonight so we shopped for souvenirs and visited Germany where we tried a little wine flight (apple wine, Riesling, and ice wine -- all good!). In Norway, we rode Maelstrom again and took our time as we headed to the exit. We were back at Coronado Springs around midnight -- wah! Shannon and I packed a little and prepared for our departure tomorrow.
The next day, Shannon headed out to the Magical Express early (her flight was changed by the airline a few weeks before the trip so she left earlier than me) and she was on her way back to California. I visited Downtown Disney in the morning and ate a very tasty veggie sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich before heading back to the hotel to grab my bags and catch the Magical Express to the airport.
This was such a fun trip and everything worked out very well for Shannon and me -- we had great weather, low crowds (we barely needed to use fast passes to bypass lines), good travel mojo, a great hotel (minus the nachos at Pepper Market), which all combined to a great vacation! I had a really nice time traveling with my sister and I know we should try to take some more sister-trips in the future. I also came back to DC with a lot of souvenirs! Most of the things I bought were gifts, but I came back with two EPCOT t-shirts, a cookbook, CD, Christmas ornaments, and pins! We are already thinking about planning an entire family trip back to Disney World some time in November of 2013, woo-hoo!
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